FLORA AND SYLVA. 



elegantissima is a good flower prettily flushed 

 with pink. Other kinds are fastuosa, a rather 

 distinct light violet ; amplissima, in red and 

 white ; and Duchesse de Brabant with flowers 

 of light rose. 



Double-Flowered Kinds. — These are 

 numerous and include flowers variously striped, 

 tipped, and mottled, as well as forms held to 

 resemble an Anemone, a Paeony, and a Ranun- 

 culas. A fine pure white variety has recently 

 been raised in America under the name of 

 Admiral Dewey, with large flowers, opening 

 well, full and free, found to be superior to 

 "Jeanne a' Arc the previous purest white. Ra- 

 nunculijiora has been a favourite but is not a 

 pure white, while alba pleno is only white in 

 part, the base of the petals shading to magenta 

 purple. Puniceus is the best red ; Due de Bra- 

 bant is also good in the same colour. Flowers 

 in various shades of rose and carmine are gran- 

 diflora superba, Alice, and carnea pleno ; while 

 Comte de Hamault, speciosa, and pulcherrima 

 show pretty blendings of pink and white. Of 

 purple flowers are Souvenir de Clias. Lebreton, 

 one of the best, in lilac shading to purple ; 

 bicolor, a blend of white and purple ; vio/ette 

 clair, a pretty shade of mauve ; and Amaranta, 

 in lilac touched with red. There is also a sport 

 from bicolor nearly blue in colour, and a pretty 

 pale rose form of Pceoniflora. B. 



INULA ROYLEANA * 



This life-size portrait of a flower com- 

 paratively new to cultivation in Eng- 

 lish gardens will be welcome to ama- 

 teurs, who can form their own estimate 

 of its merits without our here applying 

 to it any epithets of praise or disparage- 

 ment. Of the large genus Inula, of which 

 the species are spread over the tempe- 

 rate regions of the Old World, few have 

 found favour as ornamental plants. 

 Those of any value in gardens may be 

 reviewed as follows : — 



Inula Helenium (Elecampane). — The type 

 of the genus and a plant which has for many 

 centuries been held in high esteem for the me- 



dicinal virtues and culinary uses of its aromatic 

 root. The Latin poet Horace, for example, 

 mentions it as used to flavour sauce for lam- 

 preys, and also as a good restorative for a jaded 

 stomach. Though a coarse plant for gardens it 

 forms an excellent ornament for the side of a 

 wild pond,- where, if planted in deep soil close 

 to the water, it grows 6 or 7 feet high, bear- 

 ing large ornamental leaves and several flower- 

 stems, each with a panicle of a dozen golden 

 flowers nearly 4 inches across, outgrowing 

 Nettles and Docks and asserting its presence 

 very decidedly. Nearly allied to this in its 

 thick and large foliaceous bracts is I. royleana, 

 the subject of our coloured portrait. 



/. royleana. — First described by De Can- 

 dolle (" Prodromus," V., 464) about the year 

 1835, when it had been recently discovered 

 by Royle in the Western Himalayas. I first 

 saw it in the garden of Mr. A. K. Bulley, a 

 few miles north of Chester. He had raised it 

 from imported speed. The specimen figured 

 was from the garden of Mr. Gumbleton in the 

 south of Ireland. The flowers are generally 

 solitary, and to find three on one stem is quite 

 exceptional. The stalk is not more than a foot, 

 or at most 18 inches high, very stout and 

 slightly curved. The leaves end abruptly with 

 a cordate base, are finely serrated, tapering to 

 an obtuse tip, and are thick and conspicuously 

 veined ; the bracts, which are notshownin the 

 portrait, are very broad and thick. I have little 

 experience of its behaviour in cultivation ex- 

 cept that it flowers early in July, so I say no 

 more of it. 



I. macrocephala. — This Caucasian species 

 is described in Boissier's " Flora Orientalis " 

 (Vol. III., p. 186). It is doubtfully marked by 

 Sir J. Hooker as synonymous with /. royleana, 

 but, having cultivated it at Edge for twenty 

 years, I can say that it has obviously distinct 

 characters. E. Boissier says that the head re- 

 sembles that of /. Helenium, but is three times 

 its size ; this is far larger than I have ever seen 

 it, but the foliose bracts are very broad and 

 solid and form fully half the width of the flower- 

 head ; the disk is bright gold, nearly 2 inches 

 across; between this and the involucrum there 

 rises a dense row of fine ligules, not more than 

 half an inch high, at right angles to the disk 

 and as even in length as if clipped with scis- 



* With coloured plate from a drawing made at Belgrove, Queenstown, by H. G. Moon. 



